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Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.

Mercedes CLA45 AMG: New York Auto Show 2013

The Mercedes CLA 45 AMG – Mercedes 4-door swoopy coupe version of the A45 AMG – has been officially revealed at the 2013 New York Auto Show. There was a time when smallish, powerful, four-door cars were a big deal, but as time has gone on that’s changed, with only the Japanese left to fly the flag. Now, with the demise of the WRX, that’s ending too.

Mazda RX-8 Facelift – Official

The Mazda RX-8 facelift for 2010 has been confirmed It’s all much as we said earlier. The Mazda RX-8 gets a facelift pretty much in line with what we’d detailed earlier based on the RX-8′s recent facelift in Japan. The front gets a tweak to bring it more in to line with the family features – as seen on the Mazda 3 – and LED lights are bolted on the back.